Missing out on the scene

• Author: Kim
• Filed under: Foreign Artist, Music, Uncategorized
• Date: Jul 29,2006

I do this sometimes: I go around Davao city and walk in to music stores and start “checking the merchandise”. What I actually end up doing is playing a guitar on display. Sometimes, I get inquisitive looks as to whether I decide to buy the guitar or not. Most of the time, the owner or someone gets impressed. There have been times that I get offers to join a band but I always decline. And in more instances, a crowd gathers around when I end up jamming either by myself or with other people who happen to be in the same store.

A while ago, I skipped P.E. class to do this at where Perfect Pitch used to be in G-mall. (It’s called Sound Chaser now, which must be an outlet of the Sound Chaser in Quirino.) In any case, I finally got to play a guitar after months of being utterly deprived. God. I need a new guitar fast and I need to start playing in gigs and stuff.

Before I left Manila, I actually got to play in some joint in Katipunan. The crowd was lovely and were just fun to be with. They were laughing and were actually talking back when I tell them some nonsense about being a probinsyana in the big city. I really miss that scene. I wish I could play in front of a crowd like that here. Here in Davao, I always end up with an unappreciative audience who incidentally can’t get any of the pseudointellectual things I say. (Maybe I’m at the wrong place, any recommendations?) Mind you, in one of my gigs here, I tried mentioning indie bands in my little talks in between people just goggled at me. In Manila, I got applause and “Oh yeah”s from the audience when I mention bands like Modest mouse, Broken Social Scene, Flaming Lips and Sonic Youth as my influences. Here, I don’t get applause unless I play my usual Barbie’s Cradle covers or some really, really familiar song of some really, really familiar female artist. Grr. I wish Davaoenyos would appreciate music that rightfully deserves musical merit rather than give more premium on what is considered “hip” or “hot” tracks of the moments. Remember, great music outlives its hype.

The buzz

• Author: Kim
• Filed under: Foreign Artist, Music, Uncategorized
• Date: Jul 27,2006

Aha. What has been keeping me lately, eh? I’m reportedly busy enduring a noble position that leaves people to refer to me as a Deputy Chief Adjudicator, which really shouldn’t impress anyone if you only know me too well. For weeks now, I have been training a promising batch of newbie debaters and nothing more can possibly fatten my already (pressumably) fat heart. Today, the kids had a mini-tournament among themselves, and I’m delighted to know that the trainees assigned to my block (since the entire contingent was divided into four houses, under respective trainers - I, being one of them) ranked impressively today. Yihee! Hope they’ll kick more ass tomorrow. Oh, how those kids make me so proud.

In other news, this guy Jaenor has been egging me to session for them. I’m just really, really sad that my commitments tell me that, right at this moment - inasmuch as I’d love to - I simply cannot take him up on his offer. Although, if I should be more honest with myself, I’m not certain how the guy even plays. All he ever tells me is that their band plays party punk, which sounds really new to me. All I can think of really is ala Interpol or Franz Ferdinand…is this it? (Isn’t that post-punk? Which reminds me, you have got to hear Film school!) I’ll concede that they’re good bands but I’ve never played along those lines. Partly why I regret not being able to join in on Jaenor’s jam sessions is probably because the thought of it sounds challenging to me. God, my fingers haven’t worked since I sold my guitar. I think I need this bad…

I hope I have more time in my hands later.

Pirates and pilates

• Author: Kim
• Filed under: Movies, Uncategorized
• Date: Jul 23,2006

Jack Sparrow has got to learn pilates.

He has the knack for it. He wobbles like a drunkard and yet he manages to get from point A to point B (in less time than expected, at that). Plus, he possesses this uncanny flexibility which is native in all those who are pilates-pros. Pirates learn pilates, how’s that?

(Read: Potential spoilers) Aside from Johnny Depp, everyone else seemed so blah. Kiera you’re hot but honey, you don’t look too happy when you were “reunited” with Orlando. What about you, Orlando? What happened? God, if you weren’t so yummy I would have hacked you senseless with a medieval axe. What’s up with all the Alas!-you’re-my-long-lost-father and I-will-save-you-because-daddy-you-were-gone-for-so-long-and-yet-I-love-you theme, which unconsciously alludes to Star Wars? And why can people like Kate Bosworth date him and rub torsos with Brandon Routh at the same time? The world is unfair! Give me back my money!

Yes, we see all the faces were looking for from this year’s input of Pirates of the Carribean (Dead man’s chest) but I had to ask really, why bring in Geoffrey Rush at the end of the movie when we all needed that slob from the start? Would have made things more interesting. I bet he would have blown the heads off those Cannibals, who are incidentally low in attention span, instead of those “pirates” running around the island. Come back and fight, cowards! Do that “Harr!” thing you do. I need sword fight. The only sword fight worth mentioning was when the three “men” in the movie fight over someone’s “heart”. It doesn’t sound right! Sword fight that’s not right? Okay, okay, if I have to give ‘em some credit, I did appreciate some of the antics. Kiera acting like a bimbo, throwing stones at Orlando and Jack and that (forgettable) other guy while they fight. The pirate and his gallivant eye, (as in gallivant), period. The fuzzy feeling you get when you see those giant tentacles flashing at the silver screen. Sitting next to this guy who laughs like a girl so you end up laughing too. Having to see Orlando’s precious, precious back get whipped. (I’m thinking S&M, whohoo!) And a whole lot more.

That’s Hollywood highway-robbing right there, folks. Oh, I can’t wait for the next installment.

Goosefrabah.

• Author: Kim
• Filed under: Foreign Artist, Music, Uncategorized
• Date: Jul 20,2006

I shouldn’t be lamenting over inanimate objects, but I do miss my guitar terribly. Gallagher, as I so fondly called it, was sold to a friend of mine in Manila last summer for reasons that are beggining to sound unreasonable. Now, I really can’t believe I actually let go of a black single-cutaway, ivory inlaid, Epiphone acoustic-electric guitar! Grr. Some musicians can be really stupid. (And yes, I’m basing my hasty generalization over what I just did, heh.) In fact, some musicians can’t play gigs without mindless intoxication (okay, this isn’t that bad) - and boy, do I digress. The point is, I’m one of those stupid musicians. Case closed. Read the rest of this entry »

Sequestering what you deserve

• Author: Kim
• Filed under: Movies, Music, Uncategorized
• Date: Jul 16,2006

Two weeks ago, my friend Nate and I were bitching about the fact that Up Dharma Down didn’t get to play here in Davao. What’s the real story there, eh? Imagine two really excited music geeks, all dressed up for the occassion only to find a deserted autoshop. It doesn’t seem fair. Sure we didn’t pay for the tickets yet, but the point is, we actually went there. Some friends were complaining about it come Monday. One of them said that the sponsors back out on them. I don’t know how authentic that story is but if so, why the heck would the sponsors back out on them? It didn’t seem fair for a lot of us, and mind you, there were a lot of us.

Okay, I did get to see them when I was in Manila but like what I keep saying to people, there’s nothing like having it live. It’s like playing sports. You get all sweaty and energized that you come out of the gig jumpy or drained. Either way, it’s a good feeling.

So last week, I wallowed in self-pity by finally buying their album. I’m a bit partial to the tracks written in English, but songs like Pag-agos are too “involved” in my life to ignore. Heh. Next topic…

Disclaimer - Superman Spoilers: If Bryan Singer is as gay as they say he is, he probably worked too well with Brandon Routh. For me, Brandon plays Superman as an eye candy because that aside, we tend to raise some crucial questions about his heroic characterization, especially on this whole concept of being “man of steel” - which I incidentally, don’t get. Does it mean that if you’re a man of steal, so is your spandex costume? (You’ll realize that one of the most notable scenes from that movie is when Superman was being fired at by a gattling gun.) Why are there no holes on his costume after that? And why was it so easy to take it off when Superman was in the hospital? (The theory goes, there’s probably a zipper at the back.)

Singer hints to a sequel by introducing Superman’s son. To this, I can only say two things: 1.) He’s not too cute, and 2.) How did he happen? Let’s dwell on the second notion more since it calls for more immediate attention. Again, fans ask: How did Superman do it with Louis Lane? When I was in Manila, a friend posed a similar question: If Superman and Louis Lane made love, would it rip Louis Lane apart? It sounds plausible. To be a bit more imaginative about it, by the time Louis Lane’s “done”, Super’s probably looking back at her with a relaxed look. Then again, you’d have to consider the possibility that it takes a great amount of control for Superman to do his “normal” tasks, i.e. putting on his coat, hugging his mom or even, opening beer bottles. Perhaps, when they were making love he had taken the same conscious effort to keep that control. Ladies and gentlemen, this is where I insert my opinion that: if Superman can be as “normal” as he wants to be, and human beings transform into “monsters” when they make love; therefore, Superman tends to become a monster when he makes love. Yes, Louis Lane would have to be left in pieces by then.

Hands up, I loved that movie nontheless. How couldn’t you? Heroes were heroes, and villains were villains. It may not have Kevin Spacey’s oscar-winning performance in American Beauty but I still love the way he’s bratty in that movie. Parker Posey is read: snark shark. I love her. I really, really do. Kate Bosworth portrays a seemingly more pragmatic and more jaded Louis Lane. A lot of critics think it’s bad acting, I on the other hand say, in this case, bad acting works. She’s lousy and not too inclined to shrieking - isn’t that more realistic? (If I were Louis Lane at that stage, I’d probably think Superman was a jerk and would therefore start smoking.) And what about Routh? Brandon, Brandon Routh. I’ll burn our house down and slaughter an elephant just so he would save me. Whoops, Calamity.

I deserve entertainment, people.

Peeking from another window

• Author: Kim
• Filed under: Foreign Artist, Music, Uncategorized
• Date: Jul 15,2006

After three and a half years of veering away from the more public blogosphere (yes, there is such a thing as a less public blogosphere), I have decided, with the help and initiative of two people who thought that I actually had something to say, to reemerge from the self-imposed hiatus I’d like to call “My life”.

Read the rest of this entry »